In
observance of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities
Act, the U.S. Department of Commerce hosted an event today at the
Herbert C. Hoover Building in partnership with the White House and the
Federal Communications Commission. At the event, the
Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and
Information Administration announced a $15 million American Recovery
and Reinvestment grant to Communication Service for the Deaf, Inc. for
a project that will expand broadband adoption among people who are deaf
and hard of hearing.

The
event also included a technology showcase highlighting technologies
developed to empower the daily lives of Americans with disabilities,
the launch of the FCC’s new Accessibility and Innovation Forum, a video
presentation chronicling personal histories of those with disabilities
who have been impacted by technology and a performance by Gallaudet
University students. Both the showcase and program were free and open
to the public. Read more | Related NTIA release

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke hosted a Clean Energy
Economy Forum at the White House today with Senior Advisor to the Treasury
Secretary Ron Bloom and other top administration officials, community leaders,
clean energy investors and innovators. Administration officials participated in
a constructive dialogue with attendees on opportunities to advance the
development and commercialization of new clean energy technologies and
strategies to support the creation and growth of emerging clean energy
industries and enterprises. The group also discussed efforts to promote exports
through President Obama’s National Export Initiative that will help America
transition to a clean energy economy and enhance our
competitiveness.

Today’s event builds on a series of university
innovation forums focused on technology commercialization that Locke
participated in this week, highlighting the Commerce Department and the
administration’s focus on research, innovation and a culture of
entrepreneurship. Remarks

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke visited the Georgia
Institute of Technology in Atlanta today for the final of four regional
innovation forums held at universities across the country. Since late June, the
department’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Economic
Development Administration has hosted forums at the University of Massachusetts, the University of Southern
California, the University of Michigan and now Georgia Tech. Each forum
has engaged university leaders and key stakeholders in a discussion about how
the Obama administration can help move ideas from the lab to the marketplace,
building upon a national dialogue Locke began in February.

“America
is not lacking for groundbreaking ideas. Nor are we short on entrepreneurs
willing to take risks,” Locke said. “What we need to do is get better at
connecting the great ideas to the great company
builders.

“Here in Atlanta, you set a very
high standard for how universities and the private sector can work with federal
research dollars to create businesses and jobs right here in Georgia.
Our goal is to make this high level of performance in technology
commercialization the standard nationwide.”

Following today’s innovation forum, Locke visited
Suniva, a Georgia-based manufacturer that is advancing ways to make solar
photovoltaic technology more cost-effective. The company’s affiliation with the
Georgia Institute of Technology is an example of how public-private partnerships
can help create and commercialize important new technologies. Read more | Remarks

U.S. Commerce Secretary
Gary Locke today announced the members of the National Advisory Council on
Innovation and Entrepreneurship during an innovation forum at the University of Michigan
in Ann Arbor.
Locke hosted the event along with the Commerce Department’s Office of
Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Economic Development Administration.

The National Advisory
Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship will support President Obama's
innovation strategy by helping to develop policies that foster entrepreneurship
and identifying new ways to take great ideas from the lab to the marketplace to
drive economic growth and create jobs. Members of the council include serial
entrepreneurs, university presidents, investors and non-profit leaders.

“I want to extend
my gratitude to the leaders selected to The National Advisory Council. Their
work will be a key component of America’s
economic recovery,” Locke said.

Participants at the forum
discussed the role of universities in innovation, economic development, job
creation and commercialization of federally funded research.

Earlier this year, Locke
kicked off a national dialogue on these issues at a forum on “Catalyzing
University Research for a Stronger Economy” with university leaders and
key stakeholders in Washington,
D.C. The Ann
Arbor forum is the third of four in a series of regional innovation
forums hosted by Commerce’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship,
with previous forums held at the University
of Massachusetts and the University of Southern California. The final upcoming
forum will be held at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Release

Responding to President Obama’s call to double exports in the
next five years, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and U.S. Postmaster General
John Potter announced the launch of a new initiative between the Commerce
Department and the United States Postal Service (USPS) that will help boost U.S.
exports. The New Market Exporter Initiative (NMEI) will identify current USPS
customers who are exporting their goods and services abroad, and help expand
their reach to additional international markets. The announcement expands a
strategic partnership formed in 2008 between the two entities. Read more

Rick Wade, senior adviser and deputy chief
of staff to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, was in Syracuse, N.Y., today
for the third stop on his National Main Street Business Tour that is taking him
across the country to meet with business leaders and hear directly from them
about the challenges they’re facing, taking their concerns and ideas back to
Washington.

In Syracuse, Wade and U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei
met with local business owners for a roundtable discussion followed by a tour of
New York-based Defenshield, a veteran-owned manufacturer of custom armor and
transparent armor solutions. Wade also presented the company with an Export
Achievement Award, which recognizes small- and medium-sized enterprises that
have successfully entered the international marketplace.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, joined by Senator John Kerry, Governor Deval
Patrick and Representatives John Olver and Richard Neal, today announced a $45.4
million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) investment to help
bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, create jobs, and improve
education and healthcare in Massachusetts.

The grant to the
Massachusetts Broadband Institute (Mass Broadband 123) will bring high-speed
Internet access to western Massachusetts and connect the region to the
rest of the state’s digital economy. Last week, President Barack Obama announced
$794 million in new projects that will expand broadband access and adoption
across America, including the grant to the
Massachusetts Broadband Institute. Read more

On Monday, July 5, the Commerce Department lost a member of its
extended family with the passing of former Secretary Juanita M. Kreps. After growing up
in a Kentucky
coal-mining town, she
went on to a distinguished career as a professor, author and public servant.
When President Carter appointed her Commerce Secretary, Kreps became the first woman to serve in the
position and just the fourth female Cabinet secretary in U.S.
history. Her leadership under difficult economic conditions and her intelligence
and devotion to family are remembered by many. I extend my sincere condolences
to her family.

Dr. Kreps was the first woman and the only economist to serve as secretary; she was
vice president of Duke University and a labor demographics specialist. She served as Secretary of Commerce from January 23, 1977 - October 31, 1979.

U.S. Secretary of
Commerce Gary Locke joined President Barack Obama and Jim McNerney – chairman, president &
CEO of The Boeing Company and chair of the President’s Export Council - today at the White House to announce members
of the President’s Export Council. During his speech, the president provided
a progress report on the National Export Initiative (NEI), which shows that the president’s goal of
doubling exports and supporting several million new jobs over five years is on
track, and that exports in the first four months of 2010 grew almost 17 percent
from the same period last year. While introducing the president, Locke
said that

“we must reinvest in innovation and do a
better job of connecting U.S.
companies with the 95 percent of the world’s consumers who live outside
our borders. That’s where the National Export Initiative comes in. It’s
an unprecedented government-wide effort to help double American exports by
2015, and it was designed with one overriding goal in mind: To put Americans
back to work in jobs that provide security, dignity and a sense of hope for the
future.”

The president also announced new members of the President’s Export
Council (PEC), a group that includes business and labor leaders who offer
advice and expertise on how best to promote exports, congressional leaders and
senior representatives of the administration. President’s
remarks | White House blog